The Metaverse and Web3: A Transformative Technology Convergence
The metaverse is a shared virtual experience that combines our real and virtual worlds using AR, VR, and blockchain technology. It allows users to buy and sell digital assets, attend events, and conduct business without leaving home. Web3 is a decentralized internet that replaces servers with blockchain and decentralizes control. AnyTechMeta predicts that Web3 will transform online business engagement in the next decade. The metaverse may have central platforms and use Web3 protocols to help users own digital identities, exchange digital currencies, and move digital items. Due to technological convergence, metaverse capabilities may reach their full potential soon, and those who experiment on a small scale will have an early advantage.
The Potential of the Metaverse Economy for Banks
The metaverse combines various building blocks, such as convergence, eID, and wider bandwidth, to create a more immersive internet experience. It is predicted that the $8 trillion metaverse economy and banks have an opportunity to satisfy the demand for metaverse digital currency and identity. Banks can revamp customer and employee experiences with AR/VR and offer 3D customer and employee experiences for checking balances, paying bills, transferring, and transacting. Customers could visit a metaverse branch or use an avatar at home for personal advice, empathy, and trust. Additionally, AnyTechMeta Technology Vision 2022 found that 68% of global banking executives think programming the physical environment will differentiate banks.
Metaverse Banking Innovation and Adoption
Metaverse banks can innovate by introducing new products and services, such as secure wallets, metaverse payments, and virtual real estate loans. They can also become metaverse custodians of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other digital assets. The metaverse can make digital banking more human by adding a sense of presence, and banks can promote customer community and collaboration by connecting people, places, and things. Many banks worldwide are already testing the metaverse’s versatility, with some offering virtual banking and training experiences, while others are buying land in metaverse games for customer brand experiences.
Banking in the Metaverse: Risks and Opportunities
Metaverse risks for banks may include brand harm, online abuse, and fraud. Banks should consider the impact of metaverse NFTs and crypto, as well as data ownership and regulation. Trust is crucial for adopting new bank and brand experiences in the metaverse, and responsible development is necessary for data ownership, inclusion, diversity, sustainability, risk management, security, and safety. Banks should begin exploring the metaverse with a five-year timeline in mind, evaluating the market, technology, and partners. Cloud deployment and targeted investment in virtual marketplaces, distributed ledgers, VR, and AR may benefit banks. Low-risk metaverse use cases for banks include VR training, enabling 3D experiences, and preparing for immersive technologies to change customer and employee interactions.
Banks in the Metaverse: Requirements and Opportunities
What are the requirements for banks to deploy in the metaverse? Banks will need the expertise of user experience designers, cloud architects, and software engineers to digitize. In addition, hiring platform, 3D, game, and multi-blockchain experts would be beneficial. It is important for banks to identify their areas of competition and skills gaps, and to make a long-term effort to fill those gaps. This can be achieved through recruiting external talent, vendor-based training, and familiarizing employees with the bank’s metaverse platforms. To begin metaverse projects, banks can start with low-code and no-code platforms.
Metaverse Payments: Challenges and Opportunities
What is the next step for metaverse payments? In the metaverse, shoppers can purchase items, but most metaverses currently accept payments only and do not allow the transfer of assets. Some closed metaverses like Roblox allow for the sale of digital assets within the platform, but these assets cannot leave the platform. In contrast, open metaverses like Horizon Worlds and Decentraland allow for asset transfers, but their rules around asset ownership and fees vary. Cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are powered by the blockchain, which is used for most metaverse payments. Banks can offer linked metaverse ATMs to customers, which can be used to transfer money to digital wallets. Metaverse wallets can store cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Banks need to prepare for securing digital assets as they become more popular. Payment systems that bridge the gap between the metaverse and real-world currencies and assets are still in development but would expand payment options.
The Metaverse and the Future of Banking
The banking industry has undergone a decade of digital transformation since the Web and mobile revolutions, but the metaverse is more than just another technology trend. It presents an opportunity for banks to reconnect with customers and bring back the personalized service and emotional engagement of traditional branch banking. With the metaverse, data movement and use across digital platforms will be simplified, and new industries and work styles will emerge.
AnyTechMeta and the Role of Metaverse Banking in the Future of Banking
As leaders consider the role of the internet and the digital future for the next decade, the metaverse is a crucial turning point for banks. Those that wait risk working in another’s world. The metaverse connects physical and digital identities and spaces, allowing for a shared experience that spans the real and virtual worlds. This is made possible by technologies like AR, VR, and blockchain, which enable the creation, buying, and selling of digital assets like land, buildings, and items.
In the metaverse, users interact with each other and a computer-generated environment, creating business opportunities for banks to provide financial services. AnyTechMeta offers metaverse banking solutions, including virtual storefront systems, that can help banks expand in the metaverse. By leveraging AnyTechMeta’s expertise in this area, banks can introduce new products and services such as secure wallets, metaverse payments, and virtual real estate loans.
Bankers anticipate that 47% of customers will use metaverse banking services, making it a crucial area of exploration and investment for banks. To fully realize the potential of metaverse banking, banks must partner with companies like AnyTechMeta to drive innovation and create a new era of banking. If you’re interested in learning more about AnyTechMeta and their vision for the future, book a demo call today.
